My grandmother passed away this past Sunday. We called her Ma’dea. She was 88 years old. Her funeral was Thursday in Bolton, MS.
I lived with my grandparents from the time I was 6 weeks old until I was 14, though I spent weekends and holidays with my mother. My grandmother played a part in raising a lot of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren (currently numbering 21 and 24 respectively). She was a very kind woman and was always willing to help people out. She had a great since of humor. She joked a lot and played pranks on us grandchildren. I can’t remember ever having anything negative to say about her. She is greatly missed.
I read Unshapely Things be Marc Del Franco because it was the latest pick from The Sword and Laser podcast. Unshapely Things falls under the category elf punk. It takes place in modern-day Boston where you see people along with creatures like fairies, elves, and druids (collectively called the fey). There’s an area of Boston called The Weird where the most of the Boston-area fey live.
It was an ok book, but not something that I liked a lot. It took about a month to read a 300-page book, which means that it was very easy to put the book down and do other things. This was the author’s first book and I know that there’s at least one other book in the Connor Grey series. I’m not sure if I’ll read the next book. I have a feeling it’s much better than the first, but I may just read the Harry Dresden series instead.
I’m already finding Serenity.
- Headcrash, Bruce Bethke
Childhood’s End, Arthur C. ClarkeTimeline, Michael CrichtonUnshapely Things, Mark Del Franco- Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson
- Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
- On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
- On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
The Appeal, John GrishamPlaying for Pizza, John Grisham- Night Watch, Sergey Lukyanenko
- Day Watch, Sergey Lukyanenko
- Twilight Watch, Sergey Lukyanenko
- Final Watch, Sergey Lukyanenko
The Taking, Dean KoontzHis Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi NovikThrone of Jade, Naomi NovikBlack Powder War, Naomi NovikEmpire of Ivory, Naomi Novik- Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik
Lyra’s Oxford, Philip Pullman- Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
Elantris, Brandon Sanderson- Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
I first started watching Babylon 5 near the end of its thirds season when I was still in high school. I immediately liked it and watched all the remaining episodes and TV movies while in high school and college. I got caught up on the previous episodes during my freshman year in college when TNT started airing them 5 nights a week. I remember trying to be sure to be back in my dorm room every night or recording the episode if I wasn’t going to be there.
I’ve been meaning to re-watch B5 for a while now. I bought season 1 recently and finished watching it earlier this week. I hadn’t seen these episodes in over years. I had heard people say that season 1 is bad compared to the rest and I remembered the later seasons as being much better than the first. There were some moments here and there where I cringed a little on the inside, but I really enjoyed the first season.
Part of my enjoyment may have come from the fact that I know what’s going to happen later. Each season has a title, which is also the title of one of the episodes from that season. The title of season one is “Signs and Portents’’. I can see them planting the seeds for future storylines. I remember why I liked this show so much. I can’t wait to jump into season 2.
Well, not brand new but new to me. I finally got a new car yesterday.
My mom’s car was stolen recently and when she got it back it was in pretty bad shape. Since I had planned on getting a new car in the near future, I let her have the old car that I had been driving since 1999 until she’s ready to get something else. I just had to get a new car earlier than I had planned, but oh well.
My new car is a gray Nissan Altima. I realized today that a lot of people around here drive Altimas, probably because MSU employees get discounts on Nissan cars. It had 29000 miles on it. It drives well. It has a lot of room. It’s great for me. The previous owner left his Sirius satellite radio receiver in the car and it’s still activated. It’s not something I would have bought on my own, but since it’s there I’m going to use it. When it gets deactivated, I’ll start up my own account.
Anyway, I’m happy and I’m itching to go on a road trip.
I got a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice yesterday. A postal carrier was found to be in possession of multiple Gamefly and Netflix rentals. One of the rentals in her possession was either on its way to me or on its way back from me. Her illegal activities had been going on since August 2007. She’s out of custody and her trial was supposed to take place this week. I went to the victims’ website that the DoJ has set up and I can stay up-to-date on the developments of the case.
Since this trial is taking place in California, I’m assuming that the crime took place there and it’s a Gamefly rental. I wish I knew exactly which game it was. It was probably a game that I sent back and marked as sent on their website when they didn’t get it after a while. I think there has been a game or two that I didn’t receive after a week, so I asked for another copy. Whatever the case, at least somebody is doing something about it. The long turnaround time annoys me sometimes. I figured that this kind of thing does happen. Gotta have my games and movies 
Bailey is my former roommates’ dog. Yes, he was named after the drink. We got him last September when he was about 2 months old. I always took care of him when everybody else was gone. He is a cool dog and the best dog I’ve ever known. This past weekend it was time for Bailey to move away too. I hope I’ll get to see him from time to time. Unfortunately, most of these pictures were taken with my phone, which doesn’t take good pictures.
